All Forum Posts by: La Nae Duchesneau

I have a question for you since you are posting about permits. After hurricane Milton (I live in Florida and we had a direct hit) one of my mobile homes lost part of the roof, lanai and porch. I had a roofer (he works for a roofing company so knows what he is doing) fix the roof, put back the carport and the porch roof. It is actually more sturdy than it has ever been in its life. Permitting came and said I needed a permit. Went to permitting and I mentioned the wrong word, rental. Now I need a general contractor to draw up plans, and I think she then mentioned a specialty contractor, and then the permit which is now $650 instead of $215. What can I do. I hate to tear it all down but neither do I want to pay thousands to get a general contractor?

Why don't you write them a letter stating that you now own the building and in 30 days the water bill will be reverting to the tenants name.

That is such a big difference in the bills that my first thought is you have a leak somewhere. Perhaps it has been fixed now so I would look at the last 2-3 bills and go by that.

I have had that happen to me.

I just texted and called a bunch of times to see if they had moved out since all their furniture and everything else was gone. I told them I was coming in and rerenting the place and they had one week to get their abandoned truck or I would have it towed.

They never got back to me till I mentioned the truck. Then they texted back to say they would get the truck towed that weekend.

To me, your tenant has moved out or their stuff would be there. Simply text and call them numerous times before going in and cleaning it to rerent. Also, make sure you text them and give them time to get that truck. Say to the end of the month. If anything will bite you in the butt, it will be that truck not the house.

Chances are the utilities are still on in their name. If that is the case clean the unit on their dime, don't call to switch it unless they are not on and you need it to clean.

I bought a mobile for $500 once and I had a gut feeling I shouldn't do it.

It was a bad purchase. It had no hot water heater, the electric wiring was so old it all had to be replaced, it had termites, the bathroom needed a complete remodel. I sank over $6000  into it and it was a one bedroom.

Terrible deal.

If this unit is $500 and they are giving you free lot rent, that means it is in BAD shape. I do not know if you are doing the work yourself, but make sure you go over everything with a fine tooth comb so you can see what the cost will be to fix it and make it livable.

Then do your profit and ROI.

I invest in mobile homes in Florida. Your payback on a mobile home can be a year, with that being said we have not had a direct hit from a hurricane in years. Chances are you will have your investment back multi-fold before that ever happens.

You know, before I ever invested in a mobile home I ran an ad on craigslist with my desired rent just to see if I could get it and it would be a good investment. I have been thinking lately of buying a mobile home in a 55+ community (I currently invest in all age parks). I plan to run an ad on craigslist advertising a 55+ home on their with the desired rent and see how many calls I get.

I know it may be a bit unorthodox to advertise a property I do not have as of yet. But I want to be sure the need is there before I make an investment in this new arena.

My rent is due on the first of the month and they have a 5 day grace period. After the 5th, I start a $5 late fee per day. That is steep if they do not pay till months end. That is my mobile home parks policy and I adopted it as well.

If you implement a $50 late fee after the 5th, if yoru tenant is past the 5th they may just say screw it, I got the late fee and I will pay rent at the end of the month.

If you do not have the money to buy them outright, sometimes the office of the mobile home park will let you buy them for $500 down and $100 per month. This does not include your lot rent of course.

However, depending on where you live you may be able to afford one. You can find 1 bedrooms for $1500, 2 bedrooms for $4500, and 3 bedrooms for $7000 in Florida. These are rough figures they are sometimes less and sometimes more.

You want to buy mobile homes without the land because they are a lot cheaper and  you can buy more of them. You need to call the parks around your first and ask some questions, such as: Is this an all age park or a 55+? Do you allow rentals? What is your lot rent? And do you have any for sale?

Personally, I like all age parks not the 55+, why should you limit who you can rent to. You need to make sure they allow rentals or you can't buy in that park. You want to see what the lot rent is because you want to make a minimum of $200 profit per month (if not more) in my opinion. And the park may have some for sale or you can drive through the park looking for For Sale signs.

I do not do that. I do however charge a late fee if they pay late. I do not get a reward for paying my charge card bills early. Who ever heard of such a thing. They are responsible adults aren't they?

They should pay their bills on time like the rest of us. I charge my tenants a $50 late fee after the 5th, and recently I went to $5 a day late fee after the 5th.